An alleged corruption scandal involving Qatar has rocked the European Parliament for a month.
Spectacular rebound in Qatargate: the former Italian MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, a key suspect currently imprisoned, agreed on Tuesday to collaborate with Belgian justice and to deliver what he knows about this alleged corruption scandal for the benefit of Qatar.
At the end of this agreement, the former socialist elected representative undertakes to inform the investigators of the modus operandi of the fraud, the financial arrangements with third States, the identity of the persons “which he admits to having corrupted“and the possible involvement of people”not yet known in the file“. His statements should besubstantial, revealing, sincere and complete“, said the federal prosecutor’s office.
In exchange for this cooperation, the former deputy, who in 2019 became the leader of the NGO Fight Impunity established in Brussels, will be sentenced to a prison term.limited“.
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An “effective but limited” penalty
His lawyer Laurent Kennes told AFP that this sentence negotiated with the prosecution would not exceed one year. “A five-year sentence will be imposed, but with a suspended sentence for the part exceeding one year. This means that he will undergo a year in detention, part of which under electronic bracelet“said Laurent Kennes.
This draft agreement still has to be validated by the chamber of the council, the court responsible for supervising the investigation in Belgium. Pier Antonio Panzeri, 67, was arrested in Brussels on December 9, the day of a wave of searches and arrests at the end of which a vice-president of the European Parliament, the elected Greek socialist Eva Kaili, also found locked up.
Same scenario for parliamentary assistant Francesco Giorgi, companion of Eva Kaili, and for Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, another NGO manager, also Italian. These four suspects, incarcerated for more than five weeks, have all been charged with “membership in a criminal organization», «money laundering” and “corruption“.
They are suspected of having collected large sums of cash from Qatar to influence in favor of the emirate political declarations and decision-making within the only elected institution of the EU, in particular on workers’ rights .
In this survey, Morocco was also cited. According to the press, the Cherifian kingdom used Pier Antonio Panzeri as an entry point to support its interests in the European Parliament. Both Qatar and Morocco have strongly contested these allegations.
Central figure of the investigation
Pier Antonio Panzeri is a central figure in the investigation. During the crackdown on December 9, the Belgian police discovered 600,000 euros in cash at his Brussels home, according to a judicial source. He will now have to explain the origin of these funds and the precise object of the corruption.
On Tuesday, Maxim Töller, lawyer for Marc Tarabella, once again strongly contested that this Belgian socialist MEP – whose justice requested the lifting of immunity – could be one of the “corrupt“.
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“Whether gift or money, Marc Tarabella received nothing“, affirmed the lawyer to AFP, assuring that the declarations of Pier Antonio Panzeri to the investigators, quoted by the newspaper L’Echo, according to which he would have paid to the Belgian “between 120,000 and 140,000 euroswere false. The home of Marc Tarabella in the Liège region (east) had been searched on December 10 as part of the investigation but no cash had been discovered.
According to his lawyer, Pier Antonio Panzeri is relieved by the agreement with the federal prosecutor. “He knows where he is going (in terms of sanction), everything is negotiated, the sentence is determined so he can express himself“, argued Laurent Kennes.
After Serbian players’ agent Dejan Veljkovic, in a vast corruption scandal in Belgian football, the Italian official is the second to benefit from a 2018 Belgian law on the status of “repentedmodeled on the Italian anti-mafia practice.
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